A post shared by John Blackwell (@johnblackwelljr) on Jun 30, 2017 at 3:28am PDT

Since that diagnosis, Blackwell changed his focus to undergoing surgeries and fighting to survive, although he lost the use of an arm when doctors removed part of his brain while removing the tumors.

Blackwell said last fall Prince was like a father figure to him and recruited him to play with him. He said a dear friend had recently told him that he could just imagine Prince calling for him to play even in heaven. Blackwell laughed saying, "I can hear Prince now say 'I'll just call John.' No you ain't! I don't want to do that gig. Not yet."

One of his last performances was with Columbia guitarist Terence Young. We'll speak to him about the life and legacy of John Blackwell, Jr. tonight on News19 at 11 p.m.